I have been fascinated with LED technology for car lighting. Besides the obvious benefits from lower power consumption, lasts longer and less generated heat (did you know that we can’t fit HID into any lamp without considering if it can withstand the heat?), LED lights also adds the *modern* look to a car.
Well, LED lights can come in either individual bulbs or a whole set of light fittings (complete light set replacements). That means it could cost as little as AUD4.00 to a few hundreds of dollars.
For starters, I have bought myself a pair of 7 *traditional* led bulb W5W – white with blueish tint. I am planning to use this for the car’s parking light (so brightness is not that important!). On the other hand, W5W bulbs are used in a variety of other lamps such as interior lighting, rear 3rd brake lights etc.
Here’s a picture of the W5W on the right parking light:
Compared with the old original W5W, which is obviously brighter and more yellow:
Comparing the 2, the 7 led white bulb is NOT bright enough for functional use. I will definitely recommend using SMD led instead (brighter type of LED). However, I have a feeling it will be very hard to get pure white LED lights. It’s mostly tinted with blue.
So looks I might just use these 2 LED to replace my rear license plate lighting.
I will also compare this with the Philips Bluevision lamp. Unfortunately I can’t get LED H7 to test on the dipped light as the bulb is encased in a diffuser. The LED H7 bulb is too thick to fit. So stay tune for more LED experiment. Next would be the 3rd brake to trial LED upgrade.
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12/04/2010 at 09:13
ilovejdmtoy
For a brighter LED light, go with SMD 5050 LED lights. Also, depending on where you place the bulb, i.e. application, either side-shine, all around shine, or panel lights would work best. You can get really nice output with these lights.
11/24/2011 at 12:43
kuangkhye
Thanks. I also agree that SMD seems the best alternative for LEDs. Don’t forget to consider the space restrictions too. For higher capacity SMD, it tends to get bigger. Some may also need to consider the *look* of SMD led. In day time, these are sometimes visible in the clear car lamp cases.
11/22/2011 at 02:39
User1234
What kind of LED light do you use ?
Any picture of led light ?
Thank you
11/24/2011 at 12:41
kuangkhye
I’m not using any at the moment. Unfortunately, I am a white pur-ist so all those blueish tinted lights are a *no* for me. So back to the standard lights. SMD are definitely a better choice compared to standard LED bulbs. SMD are brighter and possibly more white!